With Americans demonstrating an almost insatiable appetite for quality cheese, importers have to scramble to find the next new thing. Keeping retailers supplied with selections for the adventurous consumer requires good contacts on the ground in Europe. From Bay Area importer Michele Lanza, whose wife comes from Italy's Val Brembana, we have a delicious new arrival from that region, the Mandriano di Zambla.

I would venture to bet that even most Italians don't know where the Val Brembana is. Located between Bergamo and Sondrio, in the Lombardy region, this alpine valley near the Swiss border produces a DOP (name-protected) cheese called Formai de Mut ("mountain cheese" in dialect), which I have never encountered. Mandriano di Zambla is roughly similar, a rustic aged wheel made from the milk of cows that graze on high pastures.

Mandriano means herdsman, one of the primary occupations in this remote part of northeast Italy. My detailed Michelin map does not even show Zambla, a burg in the Val Brembana where, in times past, the local cheeses would be brought for sale. The cheese-making tradition in this region is long and distinguished, reflected in the obvious expertise that went into Mandriano di Zambla.

The cheese resembles Fontina Val d'Aosta in size and shape, weighing about 15 pounds but measuring only about 2 inches tall, so it is a short, broad cylinder. It has a thin natural rind but not a lot of mold activity on it. Inside, the semi-firm paste is pale gold with a few tiny openings and a robust fragrance that reminds me of warm butter and omelets. You can shave the cheese into supple slices or cut it with a knife. If shaved, the cheese will feel silky on the tongue; if cut thickly, it will seem more dense and fudgy.

Either way, the texture will be smooth and the flavor balanced and lingering, with an acidity in the finish that makes you want another taste. Although matured for 10 to 12 months, Mandriano di Zambla has the texture of a younger cheese. I tried it with both red and white wine and liked it better with the white, the 2006 Balletto Russian River Valley Pinot Gris. A Pinot Grigio or Pinot Bianco from the Alto Adige would be another good choice.

Look for Mandriano di Zambla at 24th Street Cheese and Say Cheese in San Francisco, the Cheese Shop of Healdsburg, Oxbow Cheese Merchant in Napa and Sunshine Foods in St. Helena.